Chapter 5

Chapter Five

T he shapes step into the light, revealing the in-between stage of comically large wolves. My eyes lock on the one with nearly identical markings to my brother.

"Stop." I scramble out of the car behind my mates and throw myself in between them and the unusual wolf shifters with their odd scent. Could Jarl have survived the fire and gone into hiding somehow? Had it all been an elaborate ruse?

My world's turned upside down, and I'm no longer certain what's truth or fiction. I drag the scent of family into my lungs. Who are these strange wolves, and what is the cloying sweet smell that mixes with the earthy aroma of earth and fur?

Breathing hard, arms extended, I try to make sense of what's happening.

Stand down. Cadoc's voice is loud and clear through the weak mental link our clan is forming.

Family. My she-wolf insists, demanding I hold my ground. Torn between duty to my clan and what my wolf perceives as family, I'm tossed about on a mental titter totter.

"Enough." I turn toward the masculine voice and my throat threatens to close as my chest tightens. My vision blurs as my body sways. My teeth chatter as my core temperature plummets.

A man stands beside a woman with a hauntingly familiar heart-shaped face and pert nose. Tears blur my vision, and I blink to clear them away as I hungrily devour the sight of her, desperate not to miss a moment.

Her face had lost its crispness in my memory.

"Mother?" I croak.

The woman's eyes fill with sadness. She shakes her head, extinguishing my hope like a candle snuffer. My wobbly legs give, and I fall to the ground.

"This is not how we planned to introduce ourselves." The tall brunette with thick, wavy hair speckled with gray takes a step forward and Cadoc matches his movement, growling as my other three mates stare down at the other wolves.

Grief washes over me like a tsunami. I feel the unease ripple through the clan link. Gathering my pain, I shove it down as I stabilize my emotions, closing myself behind a brick wall. Weakness isn't a thing we can afford.

Fur ripples like water as bones crack and muscles contort as my mates shift into a half form. Cadoc stands on two legs in his in-between form.

"Who and what are you?" Cadoc snarls. Saliva drips from his long fangs and his yellow eyes are full of deadly intentions.

"We are berserker?—"

"Rogues," Cadoc's voice is full of disgust.

"Wolves who are free," the man corrects. They don't look like the slobbering beasts, crazed and mad with blood lust I'd be warned about.

"Wild creatures who care nothing for pack or rules that keep us safe," Cadoc spits the words out.

The man growls in the back of his throat.

"No. I will not lose my niece to this posturing and misunderstanding." The woman's voice is a steel blade, slicing through the growing dissention.

"Niece? No, my mother was an only child."

"That is what she wished you to believe. I didn't follow our parent's path, and she never forgave me for it?—"

"No. She wouldn't do that," I whisper.

"You know the ways of the pack. To go against them is to be wiped from their history and thoughts."

I shake my head. The woman I grew up with who cooked meals from family recipes, had the patience of the saint, and preached the loyalty that came with family would never do what this woman claimed.

"Convenient story," Cadoc says.

"Are you calling my mate a liar?" the man asks, skin rippling with the energy that comes before the change.

"Sten." She reaches out and wraps her small hand around his straining biceps.

"I am Liv Banich. Your aunt."

I shake my head, unable to speak as my throat dehydrates.

"You smell it. The same as I do."

"You reek of something unnatural," Cadoc hisses.

"Renouncing the pack came with a price we weren't willing to pay." Liv meets Cadoc's gaze straight on like a warrior, three times the size of her small stature. The woman couldn't be over five-foot-seven and one hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet.

"Your problem is with me, not my mate," the man, Sten redirects Cadoc's attention to himself.

"Yes. It is. You sought to detain us and surround us, putting our mate in danger."

"We are here to help. Not that an arrogant enforcer would understand that. I bet when Thostenson's Alpha barks, you ask how high before you jump." Sten's lip curls up.

"While you ran to hide in the woods and play lost boy, I served my pack."

Sten laughs. "You still drinking the swill they serve you and saying it's mead?"

"You were led here for a reason," Liv says. She looks up at her mate, who scowls.

"Stand down." Sten gives the order, and the three hulking beasts shift to wolves, sitting on their haunches.

"You claim freedom and yet you rule over them," Cadoc says.

"Without leadership, there is chaos. But everyone in my pack has their fair say," Sten says.

"Why have you stopped us?" Cadoc asks, remaining tense.

"We have something you're going to need," Liv says.

"There is nothing we need from any of you. Let us pass peacefully or prepare yourself for hell." Cadoc's body tenses, and I force myself to stand.

"She's telling the truth, Cadoc, at least about being my aunt. I can sense her." I tap my heart with my pointer finger. "Smell her and sense a potential bond." I tap my brain. The long unused familial pathway deep in my mind tingles with anticipation.

Unable to resist the lure, I find my gaze pulled back to the wolf, so like my brother.

"Ylva—"

"No. I've lost enough family. If there's a chance," my voice cracks, and I peer down at the ground. "I have to know for sure."

"I offer you a temporary truce, Berserker," Cadoc says.

"And I offer you temporary safe passage in my territory," Sten says begrudgingly.

I watch as the wolves opposite us shift to their human form. My breath catches in my throat at the site of the tall, slender brunette with a similar facial structure. He's not Jarl, but if I squinted — "This is our son, Hakon."

I rip my gaze away, ashamed of the uncouth way I'd stared.

"Nice to finally meet you, cousin." I hate the kindness in his rich voice. I'm not a charity case. I tip my chin up.

"What is this thing you claimed we'll need, Liv?"

"Aunt Liv," she insists.

Swallowing, I nod.

"It's a family heirloom, a broch of power. We've guarded it, waiting for Fenrir to send his chosen our way," Liv says. "Your mother gave it to me when I left the family. Even though she didn't approve of my ways."

"Why would Fenrir choose traitors like you to care for anything of importance?" Bo asks snobbishly.

"You think to judge the actions of an ancient responsible for your very creation?" Sten raises an eyebrow.

"I question anything that might put my mate at risk. You come out of nowhere at the perfect time? It's suspicious." Bo crosses his arms over his chest.

"You question my parents after they offer you hospitality?" Hadok asks, stepping forward.

"We don't have time for this. You must prove yourself worthy of wearing the broch. You have more power locked inside of you than you know, and you'll need every bit to fight against what's coming. Surely you all know this to be true." Liv's voice, so like my mother's, rings with honesty and a sense of urgency I can't shake.

"The way forward is full of obstacles and change. The old way is dead. Survival means forging alternative paths." The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I turn to meet Fell's strange gaze. His eyes are overly bright, and his face is a smooth mask of knowing.

He's tapped into something far greater than us.

"Fell," I whisper.

"If you mean us no harm, make an oath," Kirk demands.

"You ask too much," Sten says.

"A family oath," Kirk specifies. "If you mean her no harm, it will only strengthen your bond."

Sten and Liv exchange a look, and I sense they're speaking through their mating bond.

"We accept," Sten says a heartbeat later.

"Is that acceptable, Cadoc?" Kirk asks.

Cadoc inclines his head in agreement.

"Skarde. Go fetch us a stone. Be quick," Sten commands the blonde man with broad shoulders and a cleft chin. He nods and dashes off into the wooded area.

Danger slips away as the minutes tick by, and I study the small woman who's become an unexpected link to my past.

"You look like her," Liv says.

"So do you." The resemblance is uncanny and off-putting. A taunt, showing me a first-hand view of all I'm missing.

"You never explained why you smell so different," Cadoc says in a casual tone that deceives no one.

"Hiding in plain sight. Do you think we've remained here undiscovered by dumb luck?" Sten scoffs.

"You used magic," Bo says.

"We will use any means necessary to maintain our way of life." Liv raises her chin, refusing to shrink under the weight of their judgment.

If you look down on them for not following the ways of our pack, are we any better than the Alpha who forced our hand? I can understand why they'd risk everything for the freedom they have.

My mates turn to me, stunned. It's the longest conversation I've held with them through our link.

We'll play it your way, for now, brat. But you know better than to trust too quickly.

It's too convenient, princess.

Every sentence is a blow to the fragile bloom of hope growing in the center of my chest.

I'm cautious, sweet girl.

I hate myself for looking to Fell for support.

We will face what lies ahead together, but I sense no ill will or malice. The sundial led us here for a reason.

"You didn't seem surprised to see me." I focus on my aunt.

"We had a warning of your arrival," my aunt admits.

"From who?" Bo asks menacingly.

"Someone far above your designation," Sten says with a snort.

Bo glowers and takes a step forward. "Do you have spies in our pack?"

"You think so lowly of your Alpha?" Sten asks, sounding genuinely curious about the state of our people. Despite our fallout with the Alpha, I was loath to spill our secrets.

"Visions. The blood of Fenrir runs through your veins on both sides. I have gifts, small ones. I was never meant to be the powerhouse. That was all Olia. I never begrudged her that role." Liv shakes her head. "I couldn't follow along blindly. I had too many questions, no one wanted to answer. So, I went out to seek my own truths, and view life from the eyes of others."

"And what did you find?" I ask, unable to help myself.

"That the world is a hell of a lot grayer than the black-and-white bullshit they spoon-feed us from birth." The venom in her voice startles me. "They keep us separated, hating each other, when we should work together. With technology, the lines between us and humans are blurring at a rapid pace, and we're not prepared to combat it."

"And you have the answers?" Bo asks.

"Trusting each other. Forming genuine connections built to last."

"And you plan to traverse eons of hatred between paranormal creatures how?" Cadoc asks. "I've experienced their hate firsthand. They want us dead. If they could erase us off the face of the earth they wouldn't hesitate."

"All of them?" Liv challenges.

Cadoc clamps his jaw shut. His eyes flicker from blue to yellow. "Majority."

Sten's lip spreads into a wide grin. "That's why we started small."

Cadoc snickers. "You think you have all the answers?"

"I know what's worked for us," Sten counters.

I watch the two go back and forth, wondering if my headstrong mate has met his match. I study the man who's my uncle. Dressed in black cargo pants, and a tight black T-shirt, he's a powerful figure. His height matches Cadoc's, and his body is heavily muscled.

The scars on his face and neck speak of hard-fought battles. I sneak a look at Hadok and find him watching his father and Cadoc intensely. His angular face, strong jawline, and thick glossy black hair mirror my brother's.

The sound of bodies moving through the brush is a relief as Skarde emerges carrying a smooth white stone.

He hands the stone to Sten who twines his fingers with Liv.

"Wait." Fell walks over and hovers his hand over theirs. "We are here today to witness a family Heistrenging between…" He pauses in question.

"Sten and Liv Dahl."

Fell nods his head in thanks. "Sten and Liv Dahl. Who swear an oath to bring no harm to Ylva or her mates who are her family."

Sten flinches but remains quiet. Did he feel trapped, or were his ill intentions foiled? There are too many variants to consider.

"We take this oath willingly as a sign of our love and dedication to our family." Scalp tingling, I feel the cold recess of my heart thaw. These aren't Uncle Terrel and Aunt Gerda. My father's brother and his cruel wife have their own actions to answer for. There's a chance to regain some of what I've lost.

A triangular shape with crisscrossing lines appears on their wrists. Othala, the rune of oath and law. I wince as my wrist grows hot and tingles before the same mark appears on me.

"So, the Oath has been struck and it shall be observed until such a time when the parties deem it has been satisfied," Fell says.

"Now that we've been bound to do no harm, there are things to discuss, and others you need to see," Sten says.

As much as my heart longs to fully embrace these people, I can't. I turn to Cadoc as my mates exchange a look.

"If we're going to be here any longer, we should probably get the car out of the middle of the road," Bo says.

Liv turns to Sten who nods his head.

"Avsl?re." Sten waves his hand.

The ground beneath our feet rumbles, the trees wave in the wind, and a haze glimmers in the rays of the rising sun. Earthy, dark, and rich, the magic coats my tongue as I breathe it in. A metallic aftertaste is unmistakable.

This is a blood ward. Potent magic that borders on dark.

Eyes wide, I glance at Bo who nods confirming my thoughts. This is potent magic work. It's no wonder they've remained hidden. His nose wrinkles.

They smell strange. I've caught the earthy blend of herbs I can't place.

We cross onto their land, and my jaw drops. The scenery shifts, revealing a worn dirt road that leads into the woods.

"Welcome to the Territory of the Berserkers."

People gather behind him, trying to get a glimpse of us. I'm stunned to see over a hundred faces.